define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);
define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); AUSMUTEANTS Australia’s Aarght Records has been an underground label to pay attention to for quite some time now. The Melbourne operation responsible for some of the best releases from Total Control, Cosmic Psychos and Dead Farmers continues to please with the release of the first “proper’ Ausmuteants record, Amusements. Hailing from Geelong, Victoria, Ausmuteants seem to revel in the immature, with a singer who feels the need to express in great detail how he pissed himself (twice). It’s obvious from the first listen that Ausmuteants don’t take themselves too seriously, which, as a synth-band, honestly comes as a relief. And although the light-hearted side of Amusements is appreciated, some of the best songs on the record take on a more serious approach, especially the track Tinnitus which is one of the best songs I’ve heard all year. Check out the track “Tinnitus” below and pick up the record from Aarght Records here.

If youâ€
re looking for a recommendation or a reason to head to Memphis this summer, look no further than the show this Tuesday May 28th at Murphyâ€
s. Total Control. UV Race. Parquet Courts. Sharp Balloons. All for $10 bucks. What the fuck.
I donâ€
t have a problem admitting that Total Control are my favorite current band. If they arenâ€
t one of yours, youâ€
re fucking up. On record they are untouchable. Live they are on another level. A different universe. Same goes for UV Race, and so itâ€
s no wonder the bands share members. Talk about a powerhouse group of friends.  Find a way to get to Memphis on Tuesday, itâ€
ll be worth it. Read on after the jump for a quote from DX taken from an interview I did with him in 2011.
Tuesday, May 28
:: Total Control
:::: UV Race
:::::: Parquet Courts
:::::::: Sharp Balloons
@ Murphy’s [Memphis]
$10 – 18+ – 9PM
Buy tickets
What were you thinking about when you wrote the lyrics for the song CARPET RASH specifically the line “drinking detergent and licking the walls�
“With this band I was trying to write lyrics that were a bit more abstract. The hardcore lyrics I wrote were always a psychological depiction of people I hated or things I hated about myself. Having done Straightjacket Nation for six years I wrote so many songs about people I hated, so I was ready to have a different expression. I decided to approach lyrics differently with Total Control. A lot of the lyrics are motivated by shit that I dreamed about or short stories that I wrote that didnâ€
t quite work. The week I wrote that song I read three Phillip K Dick Books and I was probably getting high a lot as well. Later on I was at Mikeyâ€
s house and he showed me a basic demo of a new song he had and I was thinking about this weird futuristic sex dream. It was basically about a guy trying to make it with a robot in all these different situations. I guess that song is about being really disappointed with the future. In the 80â€
s there was a show in Australia called BEYOND 2000 and every week it would show you what weâ€
d be capable of doing in the future. It was all crap and I remember being young and thinking ‘shits gonna be so fucking cool,â€
but then when we get here the future is just more terrifying instances of what we have now. In between the 50â€
s and 2001, American culture was always about how the future is going to be fucking great. But then 9/11 happened and the myth of a great future disappeared. At the time I was pretty deep into utopian and anarchist communist politics, and then when 9/11 happened I just totally lost all sense of the future. So basically that song is about a guy who got a robot to have sex with but it turns out heâ€
s not enjoying it at all.†-Daniel Stewart.
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TWO WORDS: FUCKIN RIPPER. That’s the best way to describe Milk Music’s new LPÂ Cruise Your Illusion that came out last month via Fat Possum. Mixing the best elements of the Wipers, Husker Du, and maybe even a little Neil Young, Milk Music have really set the bar with this one with Nick Coxen’s shredding ability on full display throughout the entire recording. In an age when endless punk albums from many different subgenres are readily available for anyone who’s got a mind to track them down, it’s a pretty amazing feat to come up with something as original as “Cruise Your Illusion” while still staying in the parameters of what made this type of music relevant in the first place. Consider this a recommendation. Oh Yeah, Milk Music and Destruction Unit are playing the Stone Fox on June 5th. You should probably go. Stream a track from “Cruise Your Illusion” below.
Milk Music – “Cruising with God”
–Editor’s note: Crenshaw Mafia is a true Memphis punk rocker. You may recognize him from his zine, Achtung!, or his band, Ex-Cult. We’re thrilled to have him writing for us.
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